Picking up the Pieces: Not Quite Alone
by fireheart93
Summary: The Doctor is alone again, but how long will he stay that way. Set after Martha but before Donna.
1. A Planned Unplanned Meeting

**Picking up the Pieces: Not Quite Alone**

Author: fireheart93

Rating: K+

Summary: The Doctor is alone again, but how long will he stay that way. Set after Martha but before Donna.

Spoilers: General for the new who, but nothing specific

Archive: please ask.

Disclaimers: I don't own Doctor Who and I don't get any money from doing this.

Feedback: I'd very much appreciate it!

A/N: This is my first Dr Who fanfic. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Chapter 1-A Planned Unplanned Meeting

The Doctor was alone. Again. Not that he minded, really. When you are alone you can't be hurt. It's better for him to stay alone. He just has to shut out the pain that being alone causes. He decided he could do with a holiday, so he headed off to Alderbran Minor, a planet where the sand is blue and it is summer for 90 of the year. But the TARDIS had other ideas.

The Doctor went out of the TARDIS and looked around. Wherever he was, it wasn't Alderbran Minor. There was no blue sand and it was chucking it down with rain. He was about to go back into the TARDIS when he heard shouts in the distance.

"No rest for the wicked," he murmured to himself as he began to run towards the shouts.

Katana was pissed. Seriously pissed. What was it with men that they just won't take no for an answer. Jonas had spent the last month all but stalking her, and no matter how many times she told him she wasn't interested he kept coming back. Things had come to a head when he had broken into her house last week. She had had to beat him up pretty badly to get him out of there. In retaliation, he had got his five brothers to corner her as she was walking home from work. The direct result of this was that she was now running across the countryside with five large men following closely. And, to top it off, it was poring with rain. Brilliant. All in all, this was not a good week.

As the Doctor got closer he could see five large men chasing a smaller woman. She had just reached a cliff and had turned around to face the men, who were running at her in a single file line (the fastest runners were at the front). The Doctor was about to shout out when the front runner reached the woman. Rather than cowering in fear, as the Doctor expected her to do when faced with a man easily twice her size, she stood up to face him and delivered a rather solid looking kick to his face followed by an even more solid punch to his head. She dispatched the next man with a jab to his throat and the third man with a knee to the groin, which made the Doctor wince in sympathy. However, it was what she did to the last two men that really drew the Doctor's attention. She was obviously tired after her long run and subsequent fight and her remaining adversaries could see that. They advanced on her together. Instead of assuming a fighting position, the woman stood up straight, shut her eyes and raised her hands towards the two men. Just as the Doctor was about to intervene a wave of red/orange force hit the two men, sending them flying several feet and crashing to the ground, unconscious. The third attacker, who had recovered from her earlier attack, got up and ran without looking back. The woman fell to the floor as the Doctor ran over to help.

The Doctor reached the woman just as she began to pull herself up.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his concern mirrored in his face. The woman smiled back at him.

"Yeah thanks for asking. You know, you are first guy all week to ask me that. It makes a change from death threats," she replied, amusement colouring her tone. "I don't want to appear rude but who are you, I don't recognise you."

"I'm the Doctor," he said. The woman was unable to hold in a small gasp, but when she next spoke she sounded normal and offered no explanation for it.

"My name's Katana Fireheart, daughter of Melanus," she responded. "Would I be right in saying that you're not from around here?" she asked, innocently.

"Yeah, you could say that," the Doctor replied. "I'm a traveller, just passing through."

"Well, Doctor," Katana said, with a grin on her face, "do you fancy passing through the town, only I know a place that does the best pizza this side of Positron 5, and you could do with some fattening up!" Her grin took on a dangerous edge, almost daring him to disagree. The Doctor matched her grin with one of his own,

"Best pizza this side of Positron 5? I think I will be the judge of that. Lead the way!"

"So, why were those guys chasing you?" the Doctor asked Katana as they walked towards the town.

"I beat up their brother," Katana said, mater-of-factly. The Doctor looked across at her, shocked. To look at her you wouldn't think her capable of beating up anyone. She wasn't tall, only about 5'3". However, her red hair and hard, grey eyes hinted at a more dangerous hidden layer. Katana met the Doctor's shocked look and laughed.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she said, loudly. "He asked me to marry him but I refused. He wouldn't take no or an answer and practically stalked me for a month. The final straw was when he broke into my house last night." She glanced across at the Doctor who still looked slightly shocked.

"Let's just say that I had to throw him out rather forcefully. In revenge he got his five brothers to attack me on my way home from work."

"More fool them," the Doctor muttered under his breath. At the sharp look he received from Katana he quickly changed the subject.

"So what do you do?" he asked.

"I work in the tech department for the Andromeda Space Port. We fix any broken technology, both human and alien," she said this with a note of pride in her voice, as if her working there was an achievement in itself. The Doctor looked at her curiously.

"That's a very advanced job for someone so young. How old are you?" he asked.

"Abrupt aren't you," Katana laughed, "we've only just met and you're already asking for personal details. I'm 18 years old and yeah, that is young but I have a way with technology. I just, understand it. Sometimes I understand technology better than people!" She said this laughingly, but the Doctor could tell that it was true.

"So how long have you been working there?" he asked.

"Just coming up on two years now," Katana replied. "Anyway, it's my turn to ask the questions now," Seeing the slightly panicked look on the Doctor's face she laughed.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm not going to ask for any personal details, just tell me about your travels. I want to hear about the universe." And so the Doctor told her about the universe all the way to the town. But in the back of his mind a few very persistent thoughts spun round and round. How did this woman know he feared personal questions? Why had she gasped when she heard his name? What was the strange force she had used to defeat her attackers? And how did she know he travelled about the universe?


	2. The Uncooperative Time Machine

**Chapter 2-The Uncooperative Time Machine  
**

The Doctor walked back to the TARDIS with a grin on his face. He had enjoyed Katana's easy companionship and the way that they just seemed to understand each other. It had been a long time since he had felt that comfortable around a new acquaintance.

"Too long," he whispered to himself. In his earlier regenerations he trusted anyone he came across, without question. Time had made him suspicious of people motives. He was afraid to trust people; he had been deceived and hurt too many times.

When he walked up the final hill towards the TARDIS he felt the familiar pleasure that seeming his old friend brought. But it was an empty pleasure. As much as he loved his ship, she didn't provide the humour and wonder of a human companion. With a small sigh he opened the door and entered the TARDIS. He walked slowly towards the console, almost reluctant to leave. He was being silly he told himself, he didn't need any one. He could manage alone, always had. He entered new co-ordinates into the TARDIS, flipped a switch and…nothing happened. He tried again. He was doing everything right but the TARDIS wasn't going anywhere. Great, he thought, looks like I won't be leaving yet after all.

The Doctor was now seriously fed up. He had no idea what was wrong with his TARDIS. And it wasn't because he couldn't work it out. It was because she wouldn't tell him. He had no idea what he had done to annoy her this time. Thinking back, he couldn't remember doing anything, but that didn't necessarily mean he hadn't. He was always unintentionally annoying the TARDIS. One notable occasion was when he kept leaving his dirty underwear on the bathroom floor. She got so fed up with having to clean up after him that she locked him our of his underwear drawer for a week. That had not been fun. In the end it had been Martha that had helped him to realise what he had done wrong. He decided to do the same this time, but there was a slight flaw in that plan. Not only was Martha not there, no one was. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He could ask Katana to come and help. She was good with alien technology, that was clear, and she was the sort of person that the TARDIS got on well with, feisty but fun. Yes it was probably a bit presumptuous but the Doctor had never been one for social protocols. He stood up, pulled his coat on and walked out of the TARDIS for the second time that day. Behind him, the TARDIS gave a satisfied hum.

"Hi, I'm looking for a woman named Katana Fireheart; I was in here with her earlier. Do you know where I could find her?" the Doctor asked the waitress in the Millennium Pizza Parlour. His plan of asking Katana to help had hit a major roadblock when he realised that he didn't know where she lived. Consequently he had spent the last half hour wondering round the town asking after her. Thankfully the waitress appeared to know whom he was talking about.

"Oh, Katana, she live about five minutes away, just of Main Street," she replied enthusiastically, "now let me think, what's the road called? Mmm…oh I remember, Salvation Way. Yes, that's right, 13 Salvation way."

"Can you tell me how to get there from here?" the Doctor asked, rather desperately.

"Sure," she replied, smiling, "go out the door, turn right down Main Street, Salvation way it's the third on you right and number thirteen is on your left. You got that, honey?"

"Yes, thank you so much." the Doctor replied as he began to walk towards the exit.

"Have fun," the waitress said with a grin, and she turned back to her work.

As the Doctor walked to Katana's house, he thought over their conversation together. She was cheerful and had told him stories of her life with humour and passion. He could see that once she got into something it would take something big to make her stop. And he liked that, it was like him. But under it all he could tell that she was lonely. All her stories were about her and her dad. If they involved someone else, that person was usually being rude to her or she was helping them. He got the impression that, since her father had died, she spent most of her time alone. But he could tell she was OK with that, in the same way he was. She enjoyed the passing company of others but had resigned herself to the fact that she would always be alone. It was so like him it was scary. Just then, he reached 13 Salvation Way.

The Doctor walked up to Katana's door, suddenly nervous. What was he going to say? "I have accidentally done something to offend my time machine and now she won't move or talk to me?" That sounded stupid, and it gave away too much. But then, he rationalised, if Katana were going to fix the TARDIS then she would find out one way or another exactly what she was capable of.

"Stop being so silly," he muttered to himself and he knocked on the door. He waited and heard nothing so he knocked again. A voice drifted up to him around the side of the house,

"I'm in the workshop!" The Doctor identified the voice as Katana's and followed it to a large room, which he deduced was the workshop. He opened the door and walked in. Then he stared.

He stared around the room in wonder. In it was a very large and varied collection of alien technology in various states of repair. There was an Arcasian cooker, a Perinian guitar, a Duplonian hedge trimmer, a Haradrian heater, what was only just identifiable as a Raxacoricofalapatorian radio and a ton of other stuff that he couldn't identify due to how broken they were.

He finally pulled himself together and looked around for Katana. He saw her in the back right-hand corner of the workshop, bent over something that was spilling its wires all over the worktop. The Doctor walked over to Katana and said quietly,

"I don't mean to be rude but you do know that that's a…"

"Hairdryer?" Katana interrupted. "Yes I was aware of that fact. Mine's broken and I knew I had this one from Trinia down here so I came to see if I could fix it." The Doctor was surprised but took it in his stride.

"And can you?" he asked.

"Getting there," Katana replied. "Of course the problem isn't that I can't fix it, it's that I don't have the parts. The heat exchanger is shot and I don't have a replacement. I'm trying to use the one from that cooker over there but the technology isn't exactly compatible." She finally stood up and faced him. "So Doctor, how come you've come searching for me so soon after we said goodbye? Did you miss me?"

"My ship's broken," the Doctor replied, embarrassed. "She won't start. I've tried to fix her but I don't know what the problem is." He looked down at his feet, to embarrassed to look up at her face. To his surprise Katana didn't laugh.

"Well then," she said briskly. "Let me just clean up here and I'll come and have a look at her for you. She probably just wants a woman's touch." Katana gave him a quick grin and walked off.

"How right you are," the Doctor thought to himself.


	3. A Woman's Touch

**Chapter 3-A Woman's Touch**

The Doctor led the way back to the TARDIS. When they arrived he unlocked the door and stood back to let Katana go in first.

"Wow," Katana said, looking around. The Doctor grinned, no matter how many times he saw it, that reaction never got old. To his surprise (and, if he was honest, disappointment) Katana didn't remain shocked for long. In fact, to look at her, you would think she had seen space ships that were bigger on the inside every day of her life.

"Nice ship, she really is beautiful. I'm guessing this is the central console," Katana said, businesslike. The Doctor nodded and Katana got straight to work, climbing under the consol, leaving her legs sticking out. The Doctor felt slightly useless, so he wondered off to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. When he came back into the control room Katana was still under the console so he went back to the kitchen and started experimenting with tea and bananas. He was close to creating the perfect banana tea when a shout came from the control room.

"HA! GOT IT! OW!" the Doctor ran to the control room in time to see Katana climbing out from under the console, rubbing her head.

"What was it?" he asked.

"I hit my head on the console," Katana moaned.

"No, what was the problem?" the Doctor asked impatiently.

"Oh, so that's how it is," Katana said, sarcastically, "I fix your TARDIS and I don't get any sympathy. The Terion crystals were dirty. Nothing major but you need small hands to reach them. Told you all it needed was a woman's touch." Katana grinned and wiped her hands on a cloth. "Well aren't you going to thank me?" the Doctor hadn't moved since she had started talking.

"Thanks," he said, quickly. "How did you know she's called the TARDIS?"

Katana looked panicked.

"I…well…I dunno, I guess you told me," she said, a little too quickly. "Where can I get washed up?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Third door on the left," the Doctor replied. She walked away, leaving him deep in thought, going over their conversations together. He couldn't be certain, but he was pretty sure he hadn't mentioned the name of his ship.


	4. An Unexpected Change of Plan

Chapter 4- Chapter 4-An Unexpected Change Of Plan

"Well, I guess I had better be going." Katana said as she walked into the control room.

"Yeah." The Doctor replied, " Thanks for coming to help, I would have been here for weeks otherwise."

"You're welcome." Katana grinned, " Anytime this ship of yours needs fixing, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, but I think I can manage on my own." The Doctor said, slightly affronted.

"You could have fooled me!" Katana laughed, "Admit it, without me you wouldn't have had a clue what was wrong!"

"True, but not because I don't have enough technical know how to work it out! She wouldn't tell me!" The Doctor replied, too annoyed to censor this comment before it left his mouth. He winced, expecting a questioning comment and wondering how he could get out of it. Instead he received a knowing smile as Katana walked towards the door. The Doctor almost asked her to stay but stopped himself just in time. It would be foolish, just setting himself up for more heartache. He moved to stand in front of the console, facing the door. He really needed a break. Maybe he would be able to actually reach Alderbran Minor this time.

Just as Katana was about to leave the central column started to move and Katana was thrown backwards, into the Doctors arms. They looked at each other, shocked for a moment then moved smoothly into action. Without saying a word they moved to the console and attempted to reprogram the TARDIS computer. All they received for their troubles were some minor electric shocks and some bruises from where they were thrown across the room. By the time the TARDIS stopped moving both of them were clinging to the coral supports for dear life.

They stayed still for a moment, taking stock of their injuries. Slowly, the Doctor let go of the support and moved other to the console, Katana following behind him. She didn't ask any questions. She knew that he knew as little about what had happened as she did. They both looked at the screen together, expecting to see an image of what was outside the TARDIS door. Instead they saw complete blackness.


	5. Frozen Rats and Giant Aliens

Chapter 5- Frozen Rats and Giant Aliens

"I could have sworn I got this fixed," the Doctor said slapping the screen. "I had better run a diagnostic, we need to know what's out there." The Doctor moved away and began typing something in on the other side of the consol. Katana moved to look at the screen.

"Doctor," she said.

"Not now, Katana," he replied, irritated, "I need to check the camera and sensors are working."

"No need," Katana said, smugly, "I got it to work."

"How!" the Doctor said, too shocked to be annoyed.

"I switched it to night vision," Katana replied, laughing. "The camera wasn't broken, it's just dark!" The Doctor moved over to look at the screen. Sure enough he could no longer see blackness but a green storage room. He had a moment of madness when he wondered why in Rassilion the room was green but he quickly realised that that was just the night vision camera. He turned to Katana and said,

"Well come on then. I can't see any giant aliens out there so we had better go and look for them!"

"Yes," she replied, "Wouldn't want to miss the giant aliens."

The room they had landed in was completely dark, so the Doctor used his Sonic Screwdriver as a torch. It was a fairly large storage room. The room itself was normal but its contents were downright weird. The room was full of piles of frozen rats.

"Why do I always end up in a storage cupboard full of rats?" the Doctor asked. Katana gave him a look but decided not to comment. Instead she moved over to the door and pressed he ear up against it.

"I think it's clear," She said. The Doctor moved over and opened the door. They crept out into the corridor. As they stepped out a wave of heat hit them like a physical force. Katana had to stop for a moment to acclimatise but the Doctor just moved straight off. The room they had landed in was at the end of a rock corridor that had the feel of being inside a cave. The Doctor and Katana walked slowly down the corridor, stopping to listen for signs of movement every few metres. They carried on in this way for about ten minutes, the heat increasing as the minutes went by. The Doctor's advanced physiology allowed him to be, if not comfortable, at least able to bare the heat without too many problems. What surprised him was that Katana appeared to be unaffected by the heat. He had little time to consider this thought because, right at that moment, they bumped into two very large red aliens. Before they knew what was going on the aliens had grabbed him and hit him over the head with a mallet not unlike his own. His last conscious thought was:

"I think we found the giant aliens."


	6. Cell Talk

Author's Notes: I'm not 100 happy with this chapter but I don't really have much to add to it so I'll just post it and see what happens.

Chapter 6-cell talk

When the Doctor awoke he was tied to a metal pipe on the wall of a small room.

"What the hell was I drinking last night?" he muttered. Then he saw Katana on the other side of the room and it all came flooding back to him. Katana was still unconscious so he looked around the room they were trapped in. It was another storage room, smaller than the one the TARDIS had landed in but filled with much more interesting items. There were old computers of a vaguely familiar design. They were all broken but some looked repairable. He was trying to remember why they looked familiar when he was roused from his reverie by Katana waking up.

"Where are we?" she said, understandably afraid.

"In a storage room," the Doctor replied. He carried on, knowing exactly what her next question would be (he was quite experienced in being locked up after all).

"We were brought here by …"

"Giant red aliens," Katana interrupted, "yes, I remember." She rested her head on the wall behind her and sighed, "It's true what they say about you, trouble follows you like iron to a magnet." The Doctor nodded in agreement,

"Yeah, it does. Sometimes it feels like … hang on, how do you know so much about me?" Katana started to speak but the Doctor interrupted. "And don't try to say you don't because you do. I haven't told you anything about myself but you seem to know it all any way. You knew I travelled the universe, you knew my ship was called the TARDIS and you have given me the very strong impression that you know exactly what she is capable of. How can you know all this? Have you been reading my mind?" He was almost shouting, so frustrated by the lack of answers. The more he ranted the angrier Katana got. Here they were, trapped, and he was accusing her of reading his mind. Slowly her eyes began to change colour, from grey to green to blue to amber and, finally, as she stopped fighting her anger, a bright gold. At that moment she could have killed the Doctor. The only thing that stopped her was the fondness for him she had had from her childhood. Instead she looked up, met the Doctor's eye and shout at him,

"MY FATHER TOLD ME ABOUT YOU! WHEN I WAS A BABY IN MY CRADLE MY FATHER TOLD ME STORIES ABOUT YOU! I LOVED HEARING ABOUT YOU! I FELT THAT YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS ENTIRE STINKING UNIVERSE THAT COULD POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND HOW LONELY I AM, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON LEFT THAT UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE FEARED FOR YOUR POWERS! AND IT IS ONLY THAT FACT THAT IS STOPPING ME FROM KILLING YOU WHERE YOU SIT!" and she broke down, not crying but slumped, both physically and mentally. The Doctor was shocked. Not by what she had said, there were lots of people out there that could tell their children stories about him, but by her eyes. The last time he had seen eyes like that he was on Galifrey, before the Time War. And he suddenly understood how she knew so much about him and the TARDIS. She had read his mind, but not in the intrusive way. She had read his mind the way a Time Lord did, picking up on the thoughts that flew out of his head. And he finally understood everything. He understood her intelligence, her gift with technology. And he understood her loneliness, her feeling of being an outcast, the person everyone was afraid of. And he felt pity for this child, because that was what she was. Pity and respect, because she bore the loneliness with a smile. In truth, he saw himself in her. And when he looked over at her, slumped by the wall, he felt like the lowest life-form in the universe. He was the only person in the universe that could understand her and he had just yelled at her for listening to bedtime stories.

"Katana," he said, quietly, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I was out of line to yell like that. I'm just … frustrated at being stuck; frustrated I couldn't keep you safe. You didn't choose to be here, I should have protected you. I'm sorry." Katana didn't say anything. The Doctor looked away, resigned to the fact that she was ignoring him. So he was surprised when he heard her voice.

"Well, I guess that makes two of us then," Katana looked up and met his eyes. They were back to grey but now had golden flecks in them. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have lost my temper and yelled like that. You were justified to ask questions, I did know too much. I should have explained earlier. You see, when I was a kid, my father told me these stories of a man who wonders the stars. He rights wrongs, defends the weak, and just has fun. He told me this man was a Time Lord, last of his kind. I loved the stories. They made me want to see the universe, fight the evil and just enjoy life. You see, I was having a bit of a rough time at school. The kids were afraid of me and the teachers even more so. I'm telepathic, you see. I didn't read people's minds but they are so careless with their thoughts, they just let them wiz out of their heads, and I couldn't help but hear then, the same way I couldn't help but hear yours. I was clever too, not at maths and stuff but in the workshop I put the teacher to shame. So, as you can appreciate, I wasn't exactly popular. Anyway, one day these kids were bullying me, calling me an outcast, weirdo, you know, the usual. And I just lost it. They ended up in intensive care for three days. My father created a story said that they had been playing with fire, but after that everyone gave me a wide birth. I don't blame them. I was dangerous. I couldn't control my temper." The Doctor nodded, he had had a not dissimilar experience back on Galifrey, but didn't interrupt. He needed to know how.

"Anyway, my father explained to me how I was able to hear people's thoughts and hurt them with my mind. My great great great great great grandfather was a Time Lord. I don't now his name, I just know he was a Time Lord who chose to die when his wife died. I picked up his genes. I'm telepathic, empathic and a technopath. I can see the past, the present and, sometimes, I can see the future." Katana closed her eyes, her story finished, but the Doctor had questions that he needed answered,

"That wave I saw, when those men were chasing you. What was that, because it wasn't Time Lord?"

Katana laughed,

"I was wondering when you would ask me about that. Took you long enough."

"Yeah well I was worried it was a secret and you would kill me so couldn't tell anyone!" The Doctor laughed back, only half joking. "So, now I know you won't kill me, tell me."

"You remember my great great great great great grandfather, the Time Lord?" the Doctor nodded. "Well he married a human, but she wasn't just any human. As you may or may not know a normal human's brain operates at 5 to 10 of its functional capacity at any one time. Her brain functioned at around 90 capacity." The Doctor let out a low whistle,

"That's very high, how did she survive."

"Apparently my great great great great great grandfather gave up one of his regenerations to save her. Anyway, she had powers of telekinesis, could create illusions and affect people's minds and could command the elements. My brain works at a similar capacity so I have those powers too." she grinned and looked up at him. "So you had better watch out, because even I don't now exactly what I am capable of. Anyway I think that's enough story-telling for now. So, what do you say we bust out of this place, it's starting to get hot!"


	7. If it's Broke, Fix it

Chapter 7-If It's Broke, Fix It

"So, what do you say we bust out of this place, it's starting to get hot!"

The Doctor nodded,

"I'm all for busting out, but how. We're chained up and I can't get to my sonic screwdriver." Katana laughed,

"Allow me to give you a demonstration of my powers, namely telekinesis." She closed her eyes and her face took on a look of deep concentration. Nothing happened for a moment or two but then the Doctor felt his sonic screwdriver begin to move in his jacket pocket. His eyes went wide as it floated out of his pocket and up to his hand, where he grabbed it.

"How did you do that?" he asked, shocked. It was one thing to hear of her powers but a whole other thing to actually see them.

"I just pictured it," Katana replied, nonchalant. "I don't know the science behind it if that's what you're asking. I like to think of it as beyond science." The Doctor looked confused,

"Beyond science?"

"In other words, it makes life easier if you just accept it. Now get rid of these chains, I'm starting to loose all feeling in my hands." The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver and the lock on the chains pinged open. He crawled over to Katana and repeated the process.

"It's a good thing Jack isn't here," he murmured, "or he would have had several inappropriate comments to make about bondage."

"What?" Katana asked, slightly exasperated.

"Never mind," the Doctor said. "There we go," he exclaimed as the locked opened. Katana rubbed at her writs, which were red a chaffed from the chains.

"Now what?" she asked.

"We need to know who those aliens were." the Doctor replied, thinking hard. "They looked familiar but I can't think why. And what are they doing here? What we need now is for their leader to come and explain his master plan to us in a long and pointless monologue." Katana grinned, something the Doctor was beginning to recognise as her usual facial expression.

"No need for that. Look around," the Doctor obeyed but came up blank.

"We are surrounded by computers," Katana said. "All we have to do is hack into their network and we will know exactly what is going on!"

"But they're broken, not working, kaput," the Doctor said.

"True, but we have here the two things needed to fix them, namely my brain and your sonic screwdriver!" Katana said with a flourish, her grin getting even wider, if that was possible.

"Hey!" the Doctor said, offended at being left out.

"Only kidding," Katana laughed. "Now let's find a suitable candidate for Operation Find Out What The Hell's Going On!"

"Nice name," The Doctor grinned.

"Thanks," Katana replied. "I am rather proud of it."

They quickly found a computer that didn't look too badly damaged. Katana borrowed the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and began to inspect the computer's insides.

"I've had a thought," she said. "Why would they put prisoners in a room full of computers. Surely that's a bit nonsensical."

"My guess is," the Doctor replied, "that they weren't expecting to have to lock people up, so they don't have any cells.

"You're probably right. that means that this base must be only temporary." Katana said, and went back to studying the computer.

"Well there's your problem!" she said presently. "The wiring has become disconnected. Bit fiddly but the good news is we don't need any extra parts."

"How long is the going to take?" the Doctor asked, slightly nervous.

"Five minutes tops," Katana answered. "Now shut up and let me work."

True to her word, Katana had the computer fixed and working four and a half minutes later.

"Now," the Doctor said, "let's take a look at what's going on." He began opening files and scrolling through them, seemingly at random. Katana was just about to ask him how long it was going to take when he made her jump by shouting,

"HA, NOW I'VE GOT IT."

"Well whatever it is I hope it isn't catching," Katana muttered.

"Haha very funny, can we get back on track please," the Doctor asked. At Katana's nod he carried on. "It's the Pyreans. That's why I recognised the technology, I met them, oh would be about… seven hundred years ago now. But what are they doing here? It doesn't make sense.

"Here?" Katana asked. "Where is here?"

"We are inside a volcano on Tyranus 6. That's what doesn't make sense; Pyreans come from the other side of the galaxy, the Pyranus system. So what are they doing here?"

"Can you find a layout of the volcano?" Katana asked.

"Why do you want that?" the Doctor looked confused.

"Well aside from the fact it could help us to find out where we are in relation to the TARDIS," Katana said, sarcastically, "I can feel something. A weird sort of energy." At the Doctor's confused look she carried on explaining. "I can command the elements and sense the energy created and used by them. Now volcanoes create a very particular type of energy, but this is different. It's almost as if someone has taken the volcano's energy and is converting it into something else."

"What else?" asked the Doctor, as he brought up a 3D diagram of the volcano.

"That's what I don't know!" Katana exclaimed. "But I think if we went there we could find out."

"Where?" the Doctor asked.

"There," Katana pointed, causing the Doctor to raise his eyebrows. "The heart of the volcano!"


	8. Power of the Elements

**Chapter 8-Power of the Elements**

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver opened the door easily and he and Katana crept out into the corridor. Keeping a wary eye out for any aliens the Doctor and Katana walked towards the centre of the volcano. The closer they got the hotter the temperature. Finally they reached the heart of the volcano, and the Doctor stopped so suddenly that Katana walked into him.

The room was huge. You could have fitted Mount Everest in there twice with room to spare. But it wasn't the room's size that had caused the Doctor to stop. Nor was it the huge column of red hot magma in the centre of the room, held in place by a gently flickering force field. No. what caused the Doctor to stop was much more serious.

"A Naton gun," he murmured, transfixed.

"A what?" Katana asked.

"A Naton gun," the Doctor repeated. "A gun which harnesses the power of a natural disaster, such as a volcano, and changes it into naton energy."

"Which is incredibly destructive," Katana said, shocked.

"A shot powered by a volcano this size could destroy a planet," the Doctor said. He hadn't moved. Katana looked over at him. Then she disappeared.

"Well well," said a voice from behind the Doctor. "What have we here?"

A giant Pyrean entered the room. It was easily a head taller then the Doctor and twice as broad. It looked roughly like a human but was bright red, had six fingers on each hand and two grand horns on its head. The Doctor took a few steps back but, if he was afraid, he didn't let it show in his voice,

"Who are you and what are you doing here? You're a Pyrean, you don't belong here." The Pyrean drew itself up to its full height, and said, grandly,

"I am not just any Pyrean, I am Supreme Commander Vulcana, head of the Pyrean Special Forces." The Doctor looked unimpressed,

"Well then, Supreme Commander Vulcana, what are you doing with this Naton gun?"

"Extending the Pyrean Empire," Vulcana replied, even more grandly than before.

"What, by blasting planets out of the sky?" the Doctor asked, mockingly. "Call me old fashioned but surely you have to have planets to rule over before you can have an empire. And a naton gun is only good for completely destroying planets."

"The naton gun is the threat," Vulcana said. "The people will submit to our rule or be totally destroyed."

"Oh very clever, very original, pity I'm going to have to stop you," the Doctor said. Vulcana laughed.

"You are funny," he said, "but I will kill you first." He raised his fist to strike the Doctor down.

"OI! PEA BRAIN!" the shout came from near the central column. "PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" And suddenly, out of thin air, Katana appeared. Vulcana looked at her briefly but turned back to the Doctor and struck at him. To both Vulcana's and the Doctor's surprise, Vulcana could not touch the Doctor. He tried several times, but each time his fist was stopped a foot from the Doctor's head. He slowly turned to face Katana. She was standing with her hand raised towards the Doctor.

"Guards," Vulcana shouted, "kill her!" Two guards began to run towards Katana. She raised her other hand towards them and sent a bright amber wave of force towards them, knocking them so far back they hit the wall. Vulcana stood there, shocked. This small female had taken out two of his largest guards without touching them. Katana turned and started to walk towards the Doctor.

"Well then, Supreme Commander Vulcana," she said, "word of advice. When your adversary can control the elements, don't let her near the heart of the volcano." She sent a bolt of force towards the column of magma in the centre of the chamber before throwing herself at the Doctor. Vulcana was smug, happy that the barrier around the magma would hold. His smugness didn't last long. Katana's bolt of force cut through the barrier like a hot knife through butter. Magma surged into the chamber, destroying everything it touched, including the naton gun. It spread through the volcano, burning and destroying any remnant of the Pyreans occupation of its caves.


	9. Best Laid Plans of Mice and Time Machine

**Chapter 9-Best Laid Plans of Mice and Time Machines**

The Doctor awoke in the control room of the TARDIS to the sound of the Time Rotor starting up. He lay there for a moment, wondering how he had got into the TARDIS. The last thing he could remember was almost being killed by the Pyrean when Katana…Katana! He sat up quickly, much to his head's displeasure, and looked around for Katana. He smiled when he saw her piloting the TARDIS like she had been doing it her whole life. She looked up and matched his grin with one of her own.

"How are you feeling, Doctor?" she asked as she walked over to him.

"I'm fine, bit of a headache but other wise Ok. What happened?" he asked.

"I induced a volcanic eruption by destroying the barrier holding the magma back," Katana replied. "The naton gun was destroyed." She got up and began to walk back to the console but stopped when the Doctor asked,

"And the Pyreans?"

"Dead," she answered. "They're all dead. I couldn't save them. I only just had time to put a shield around you and me to ride the worst of the flow out before summoning the TARDIS around us. I didn't have enough power to do anything else." She remained facing away from him. The Doctor got up, walked over to her and turned her around. She wasn't crying, but the Doctor could tell she was hurting. The only thing he could think of to say was,

"It's Ok."

"No!" she exclaimed, throwing his hands off her and backing away. "It's not Ok. They're all dead, and I killed them!" The Doctor stepped closer to her and pulled her into a hug. She clung onto him.

"You had no choice," he murmured. "You had no choice. The only way of stopping them from using that gun was to destroy it and all their research. Yes, it's sad they died but don't blame yourself. You had no choice. You saved my life and I'm grateful." He held her for what seemed like an age. When her grip on him relaxed he pulled back and said,

"Now, I have some questions." he grinned at her and she gave him a weak smile. "One: how is it that while I was talking to Vulcana you had disappeared and then you reappeared on the other side of the room? And two: how did you manage to pilot the TARDIS alone?" Katana's smile became a grin,

"Well, I didn't technically disappear; I just altered your perception. You saw me but you didn't register me. You mind ignored me. It's a simple trick but works very well. I walked over to the magma column, I needed to find out what sort of energy the barrier was made of so I could destroy it. And to answer your second question, I didn't do it alone," she laughed at the Doctor's confused look. "The TARDIS helped me. I had already established a telepathic link with her in order to bring her to us in the central chamber. We needed to get out of there because I was running out of energy and couldn't maintain the shield for much longer so she told me what to do. Her instructions and my skills as a technopath meant I could pilot the TARDIS away from danger." At the Doctor's look she laughed again and he smiled. The more he saw of her personality the more she intrigued him. How could she be distraught one moment and laughing the next? He didn't know, but he wanted to find out. And it was that more than anything which prompted him to say,

"Do you want to come with me?"

"What?" she asked shocked.

"Do you want to come with me?" he repeated. "You know, see the universe, fight evil, have fun," he grinned. "It would be nice to have someone on board who could help me fix the TARDIS. Would make a change from constantly asking how long it's going to take." She laughed outright at that, which he took as a good sign.

"So, what do you say?" he asked, nervously.

"Ok," Katana said quietly.

"What?" the Doctor asked, needing to be certain.

"I said ok. I'd love to travel with you," she grinned and ran to hug him. While he held her, the Doctor heard the TARDIS' satisfied purr and he thanked her. His ship had once again proved that she knew what was best for him. And while he may not exactly know what his new companion was capable of, he knew he would have a lot of fun finding out.


End file.
